Linda Eve Diamond’s poetry has been performed at Artist Embassy International’s Dancing Poetry Festival, screened at the REELpoetry International Poetry Film & Video Festival, and displayed at The Museum of Art – DeLand. Her poetry appears in numerous journals and anthologies, including HOOT Review, The Ekphrastic Review, and Encore: Prize Poems 2021.
Please visit: www.lindaevediamond.com
I’ve been thinking of you. You wouldn’t remember me,
of course, but I was there with you once, long ago.
I was a wisp of a shadow on an out-of-place trip,
a passing set of quiet footsteps on Colosseum ruins
and piazza cobblestones, one of countless ghostly
strangers floating with awe at the Sistine ceiling.
You were so bold, draped in art, laced in gold,
eternally old world with a city’s modern flair
and billowy flowers blooming and dancing
up and down your famous Spanish steps.
In sleepy afternoons, you’d close your blinds
and rest a while, reopening (at no particular time)
with a soft glow shining through your beautiful
old windows (the eyes of your romantic city soul).
Spinning myself dizzy, I framed and reframed
photographic patches of your artistry, your buildings,
your quaint cafés and ruins—a lost young girl falling
in love, for the first time, with absolutely everything.
I thought I’d visit again, one day stay up late with you,
experience your many moods, feel your full embrace,
go deep into your ancient heart and find eternal kisses.
I tossed my coins and made my Trevi Fountain wishes.
I’m still wishing, still a passing shadow, still taking photos,
still charmed by mosaics pieced and puzzled to perfection,
forever treasuring my small handful of souvenirs and lire,
dreaming of a visit and thinking of you, bella Roma—
with Love.
Poetry in this post: © Linda Eve Diamond
Published with the permission of Linda Eve Diamond